BANNISTERITE

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Occasionally, a mineral deposit produces world-class specimens of a mineral which ordinarily is exceptionally rare. This is certainly the case for Bannisterite from Zinc Corporatio n mine, at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Bannisterite, named in 1967, after Frederick Allen Bannister, a former Keeper of Mineralogy at the Natural History Museum in London, was described using Co-Type Localities on the basis of microcrystalline material from Benallt mine in North Wales (Wales, UK - not New South Wales, Australia) and slightly larger masses from Franklin in New Jersey, USA. The subsequent discovery of huge micaceous crystals of Bannisterite at Broken Hill was totally unexpected and represents the world's finest crystallized Bannisterite by a colossal distance. This exceptional large miniature specimen of Bannisterite is great in that not only are the crystals huge (to 7 cm in length), but they are on matrix too, providing additional geological context. Ex Milton Lavers Collection. Show more